


Dark Heroism

by RescueWombat



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Disabled Character, Gen, Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal Spoilers, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26406178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RescueWombat/pseuds/RescueWombat
Summary: In the battle of Light and Darkness, only a Hero can tip the scales.
Kudos: 2





	Dark Heroism

“This is it, Elidibus!” Jarla boomed as she drew her katana. She could feel her comrades beside her, hear the subtle noise of their readiness. The subtle shuffle of Radothgar’s deck of sixty, Merrow’s soft muttering as she prepared her spells, and the quiet clinking as Broom loaded his gunblade’s chamber with cartridges.

“So it shall, Warriors of Darkness.” The Ascian said, his voice level and calm despite everything he had done, everything that had happened leading up to this moment.

Jarla found it irritating.

“Ready?” She asked, giving her neck a crack as she stared down the so-called Warrior of Light.

“As I’ll ever be.” Broom said, his gunblade loading with a click as he settled it on his shoulder.

“I am prepared.” Radothgar said, his voice echoing with the power of Alexander behind it.

“By your leave, commander.” Merrow said, self-assured and confident even in this situation.

“Cheeky shites. Warriors of Darkness, forward!” Jarla bellowed, and the battle began.

_ Trapped in the madness beaten Hollow _

_ Is there anyway to save me, is there anyway to break free from this mess _

_ Strapped to the sadness and the sorrow, on the verge of giving in _

_ With an urge of self-destruction to end it all _

They had all come so far, done so much, they couldn’t let it end here.

With a powerful jump, Jarla was flying through the air, Kiku-Ichimonji returned to its sheathe as the Hellsguard began to call her technique.

“Muso-Ryu Iai: Rashomon!” She yelled, her blade flying from the scabbard in a flash of steel before returning to it with a click as the very pressure of the air struck at Elidibus and drove him back, leaving him open as Broom came flying in overhead with Leonhart held high.

“Eat this!” He bellowed, a thunderous boom echoing through the air as he pulled the trigger and brought the gunblade down on the Ascian’s shield, cracking it as the blade bit through ilm by ilm.

“Fools!” Elidibus cried, and with a swing of his sword both Jarla and Broom found themselves flying through the air only to stop as the familiar feeling of Rescue dragged them back to the ground.

“Buy me time, I have an idea.” Merrow said as she took a brief pause from the consistent bombardment of fire and ice she had been lobbing at the Emissary.

“Your machinations are futile!” Elidibus roared as he lunged at Broom, his colossal blade splitting the the floor of their arena as the Hyur weaved around the blows only to choke as chains of black and red aether lashed out to wrap around all four of the Warriors of Darkness and drag them into the void.

_ This could be the end of time, this could be the end of me _

_ Not gonna pretend and let it fall to ashes, no! _

_ This could be the end of light, this could be the end of us, _

_ Just as I was about to give up _

No! It would not end here!

As the four of them struggled, a light began to shine, small and insignificant at first before it began to bloom into a blinding light, and their chains were broken.

_ Something deep inside, keeping me alive _

_ Fusing into the unknown, losing my own control _

_ I will sacrifice, for us to survive _

_ Every drop of my blood letting go, of my insanity, from within! _

Something began to cut through space, a blade of fire and fury tearing through to reveal Jarla, her jaw clenched tightly as she cleaved through to return from the rift.

“No! This cannot be!” Elidibus cried, rage evident on his face as one by one the Warriors of Darkness stepped through the rift.

“It can, Warrior of Light.” Radothgar said, voice booming with pure power as static began to crackle in the air.

“Jarla, take the lead!” The Hrothgar yelled, a clock face appearing beneath the Roegadyn as a card flew out from the deck of sixty on Radothgar’s hip, the Spire empowering her as Broom reloaded his gunblade.

_ Nothing can stop this DARK HERO, like a beast on the loose _

_ Devouring anything that gets in the way _

_ This could be the end of time, this could be the end of me _

_ Not gonna pretend and let it fall to ashes, no! _

_ This could be the end of light, this could be the end of us, _

_ Just as I was about to give up _

“Now!” Merrow yelled as the eyes of her skull-headed staff began to glow, and leylines began to spread beneath her, reaching out to encompass the entirety of the arena.

“Forward!” Jarla yelled, Broom letting out a battle cry as he followed behind her.

_ Something deep inside, keeping me alive _

_ Fusing into the unknown, losing my own control _

_ I will sacrifice, for us to survive _

_ Every drop of my blood letting go, of my insanity, from within! _

“Hissatsu: Seiryu!” Jarla said, lunging forward and weaving through blows like the serpent the technique had been named for as Broom simply plowed forward, taking and shrugging off what attacks he couldn’t deflect with a swing of Leonhart.

“Jarla, look out!” The Hyur cried, leaping forward as Elidibus swung his blade down on her to intercept it.   
  
“Blasting Zone!”

With a pull of his gunblade’s trigger the Warrior of Light was sent staggering, his weapon beginning to crack along the edge before he brought it down once more, this time finding his mark and sending Jarla flying.

_ Is this how, we are meant to be, is this everything we've been longing for? _

“Hissatsu: Genbu!” The samurai cried, breaking her fall with an aetherial shield curled around her as she skidded along the ground.

“Get back in the fight, Merrow needs more time!” Radothgar yelled, a series of clock faces, each pointing directly to midday, sprung up in a path in front of Jarla and began to fling her forward, the Hrothgar’s powers as the Emissary of Alexander allowing him to speed her along and back into combat.

_ Just as I was about to give up _

“Hissatsu: Kaiten,” Jarla began as she leaped into the air, level with Elidibus’s face as Kiku-Ichimonji slid into its sheathe, “Muso-Ryu Iai: Byakko!”

With a flash of steel and wind, deep gouges were cut in the Emissary’s face like the claws of a massive tiger, and as she fell Jarla drew her sword once more.

“Hissatsu: Suzaku!” She cried, her blade burning as she thrust it through the Ascian’s chest mid-fall, pulling it free as she hit the ground.

_ Something deep inside, keeping me alive _

_ Fusing into the unknown, losing my own control _

_ I will sacrifice, for us to survive _

_ Every drop of my blood letting go, of my insanity, from within! _

“I refuse to fall here! I will not allow it!” Elidibus said, his blade glowing with light as he raised it to the heavens.

**[LIMIT BREAK 4 - ULTIMATE CROSSOVER]**

“Do it now!” Merrow yelled from the back line, the colossal leyline beneath her lighting up as she cast her ultimate spell.

**[LIMIT BREAK 4 - CALAMITY]**

“Leave defending to me!” Broom said, his gunblade hissing as he loaded one last cartridge into it and fired it into the sky, a silver-gray shield covering the four of them as a celestial body, the spitting image of Dalamud, began to plummet from the sky.

**[LIMIT BREAK 4 - FULLMETAL HEART]**

“I will see to the healing!” Radothgar cried, his deck of sixty flying out to surround him as he wove his magic.

**[LIMIT BREAK 4 - ARCANUM ASTROLOGICA]**

“Then I guess I’m the only one that’s left, huh?” Jarla said quietly to herself as she sheathed Kiku-Ichimonji.

“Elidibus, you’ve no fight left to fight! No life left to live!”

As she spoke, Jarla crouched down, closing her eye as she coiled like a snake about to strike.

**[LIMIT BREAK 4 - KOGARASHI-RYU: SAGA OF THE MASTER]**

Gekko.

Kasha.

Yukikaze.

Midare Sestsugekka.

Kaeshi: Setsugekka.

Hissatsu: Guren.

Hissatsu: Senei.

Shoha.

When Jarla finally sheathed her blade with a resounding click in the silence, Elidibus fell to the ground defeated.

“We may not be perfect, Elidibus. We may be ugly, and corrupt, and evil and unsightly and every other thing you’ve ever called us, but we’re good enough. The sun still shines down on us each morning. And that’s good enough.”

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't done a songfic since I was in middle school, but Dark Hero came up in my Youtube recommended and gave me a whole mess of ideas.
> 
> Jarla and Radothgar both belong to me, while Broom and Merrow belong to my friend Pixel_Machine (https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixel_Machine/pseuds/Pixel_Machine), whose XIV writing is stellar.
> 
> You can find me on Twitter at @RescueWombat so if you wanna scream about XIV come at me.
> 
> But seriously, listen to Dark Hero, that shit slaps.


End file.
